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A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

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Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#61

Post by ethbro »

sbuccini wrote: post #39
saryant wrote: post #30

I spend more time than I should in the churning/FF communities (all of which are centered around FlyerTalk). It's fun. Ben's blog is one of the few I follow, most aren't that great. Frequent Miler is a solid resource, as is Wandering Aramean, but nothing beats being active on FlyerTalk itself. In the last five years I've managed to earn and spend about 1.5 million miles and points, with maybe 50k airline miles from a…

Any recommendations on how to get started?

If you have steady business spending (eg you travel and are reimbursed for your expenses) with flexibility to make some of your own decisions (hotel, flight, etc etc), then I think that's the lowest barrier of entry.

Play by the same rules as the stock market: it's not about picking winners a low percent of the time but rather avoiding losing anything and running a reasonable risk profile.

If you've got a bit of business spend you can allocate, then you get to play without risking anything. At worst (if some bonus doesn't come through because you missed fine print), you're right where you started (not earning extra rewards).

Disclaimer: Assume it's implied, but no points are worth souring a business relation over. Don't chase points too far.

If you need to play solely with your own money, it gets a little dicier. For example, that $450 annual fee (not waived) card that results in $1,500 worth of travel points w/ $5k spend in 3 months? You'd better be sure you know all the rules.

I'd recommend (as someone else did), trying a few of the smaller card offers. Chase Freedom is a good small starter. They run decent cash bonuses with low spend, no annual fee, and it can ultimately pair with CSP.

Basically, approach it the same way you'd approach a casino. They're trying to attract your business. You're trying to game the system. They're constantly tweaking their rules to mitigate the impact of incentives on their bottom line. Learn the basics and then decide how far you want to go.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#62

Post by akavel »

I seem to have missed something, in that I don't get one moment of the story; given:

in April 2011, he received a certified letter from United, cheerily informing him that because he had taken advantage of the system his frequent-flyer account was permanently suspended. He was banned from flying, he recalls the letter saying, unless he paid the company $4,755 — the amount it claimed as losses through Schlappig's techniques. [...] Schlappig has repeatedly offered to send United a check but has gotten no response.

-- so, how he continued the Hobby afterwards? Did he switch to a different airline? Can anybody help me understand?

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#63

Post by octocoupler »

acqq wrote: post #41
ceejayoz wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why you're being downvoted, it's a real issue. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/24/news/24iht-radiate_ed3__0.... > A 1996 paper published in the American Journal of Epidemiology found a higher incidence of myeloid leukemia, astrocytoma, prostate cancer and malignant melanoma among 2,740 Air Canada pilots than in the general population. > One study of female flight attendants in Finland and Denmark found an inc…

Also, via XKCD: http://xkcd.com/radiation/ Three LA to NY flights are more than the approximate dose received at Fukushima Town Hall over two weeks following the accident. But you have to make 175 flights to get as much as you get with just one chest CT scan.

According to that graph a chest x-ray (20 µSv) has half the effect of a LA-NY flight (40 µSv)

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#64

Post by ethbro »

fweespeech wrote: post #58
saryant wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not quite sure these days. This hobby has gotten far more complicated than it was when I started. Ben's blog and The Points Guy are probably the best intros. I'm not a fan of TPG but he writes a lot of articles on the basics. I've been active on FlyerTalk for about five years—after being in that deep for so long, it's hard to step back and figure out where to guide a beginner. Plus, lots of it is based on your ow…

Honestly, I'd argue you are better off rotating through credit cards every 3 months for the sign up bonuses. 4 cards a year is few enough not to draw any real scrutiny, at least so far for me. I'm not sure how you'd get 25,000-50,000 points every 3 months unless your lifestyle is pretty expensive compared to mine. For example: https://creditcards.chase.com/credit-cards/sapphire-preferre... -> http://www.capitalone.co…

> the last one is a business card but this is HN so I suspect a bunch of people have ways of getting one of those

Given that the primary difference between a credit card application and a business card application is possession of an EIN, I refer you to the IRS (http://www.irs.gov/Help-&-Resources/Tools-&-FAQs/FAQs-for-In...),

Question: Does a small company that operates as a sole proprietorship need a tax ID number? Answer:

A sole proprietor who does not have any employees and who does not file any excise or pension plan tax returns does not need an employer identification number (EIN) (but can get one if they choose). In this instance, the sole proprietor uses his or her Social Security number as the taxpayer identification number. However, at any time the employer hires an employee or has to file an excise tax return, they will need a new, separate EIN.

In other words, in the absence of a more formal business structure requirement by the credit card issuer, you can be considered to be your own business.

EDIT: tldr, use your SSN

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#65

Post by e40 »

saryant wrote: post #52
wehadfun wrote: post #49

I don't get the appeal of flying first class just for the "fun" of it. You can sit in a comfy seat, drink overpriced alcohol served by an attractive lady at your local Mens club with much less hassle. Flying first class is cool if you actually have to travel but just for the hell of it.

Half the fun is knowing you bent the rules to get there in the first place. The other half is actually going wherever you're going. Sitting in a tube for 14 hours is a lot more fun at the pointy end. There are some in the FF community who fly first class to Tokyo and then return the next day but they're a very small minority.

The other half is actually going wherever you're going.

But the article says he spends most of the time outside the plane in the airports. That doesn't sound like fun, to me.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#66

Post by fweespeech »

ethbro wrote: post #64
fweespeech wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, I'd argue you are better off rotating through credit cards every 3 months for the sign up bonuses. 4 cards a year is few enough not to draw any real scrutiny, at least so far for me. I'm not sure how you'd get 25,000-50,000 points every 3 months unless your lifestyle is pretty expensive compared to mine. For example: https://creditcards.chase.com/credit-cards/sapphire-preferre... -> http://www.capitalone.co…

> the last one is a business card but this is HN so I suspect a bunch of people have ways of getting one of those Given that the primary difference between a credit card application and a business card application is possession of an EIN, I refer you to the IRS ( http://www.irs.gov/Help-&-Resources/Tools-&-FAQs/FAQs-for-In... ), Question: Does a small company that operates as a sole proprietorship need a tax ID numbe…

Yeah, but I'm not sure its worth the paperwork hassle of doing that when you can get another 30k bonus from a different card. 150k v. 180k +EIN cost is likely similar value for $.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#67

Post by saryant »

fweespeech wrote: post #66
ethbro wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the last one is a business card but this is HN so I suspect a bunch of people have ways of getting one of those Given that the primary difference between a credit card application and a business card application is possession of an EIN, I refer you to the IRS ( http://www.irs.gov/Help-&-Resources/Tools-&-FAQs/FAQs-for-In... ), Question: Does a small company that operates as a sole proprietorship need a tax ID numbe…

Yeah, but I'm not sure its worth the paperwork hassle of doing that when you can get another 30k bonus from a different card. 150k v. 180k +EIN cost is likely similar value for $.

EINs are free.

Re: A Man Who Flies Around the World for Free

#68

Post by saryant »

e40 wrote: post #65
saryant wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Half the fun is knowing you bent the rules to get there in the first place. The other half is actually going wherever you're going. Sitting in a tube for 14 hours is a lot more fun at the pointy end. There are some in the FF community who fly first class to Tokyo and then return the next day but they're a very small minority.

The other half is actually going wherever you're going. But the article says he spends most of the time outside the plane in the airports. That doesn't sound like fun, to me.

I follow his blog and he definitely doesn't spend all his time in the airport.
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